One book this Toy Con is all I needed

rOckY and Urim and I decided to head to SM Mega Mall today to check out the Toycon for some toy hunting.  I guess considering we decided to head there around 8p.m. the usual horde of cosplayers wasn't that much present anymore, which personally I feel is a good thing.  I don't have issues with cosplayers.  I do have issues when people who support/accompany the cosplayers push me and my friends away to give them room.  I don't need to name names, but am sure many of you know who I am talking about.

rOckY had a great time shopping with a bunch of Transformers to add to our growing collection.  I am sure he has a lot he'll want to talk about that so will wait for him to blog about it in his own blogs.  One thing is for certain, there's nothing more fulfilling than seeing the man you love enjoying the chance to purchase things he longed to have.

Urim, too, had a shopping spree, finding the gifts he needed for this Christmas shopping.  It was funny how all three of us at one point swooned over a book (It was "The Art of Kiki's Delivery Service") as well as a mini-statue of Totoro and the girls waiting at the bus station, but thankfully reason (and budget) won out and we decided not to get them.

I slowly looked around the trade paperbacks and found myself tempted to get a few JLA trades, the Weapon of the Gods trade collection of the comics, but there was one book I saw which definitely was worth buying:  Aberrant TERAGEN!  Incredibly, it was mixed among the comics and being sold at 80% off, so I was able to grab it for only Php180 (which translates to around US$ 4.1)  Sadly, I couldn't find any other role-playing stuff around, so I just spent the rest of the time walking around and supporting rOckY in his purchases.

We also bumped into Casey, who was dressed up as Green Lantern, as well as a few other friends.  While I still feel the name "Toycon" doesn't really capture what the event is (and out of gratitude for the book I found, I won't elaborate further tonight) I'm just happy that events like this exist to make certain hard-to-find stuff much more accessible, if not affordable.

Letters to my Ten-Year-Old Self

Admittedly, I should have done better artwork.  But I guess I was pressed for time.
If they ask me to send in stuff again, I will be sure to do so.

But yeah, here's a cool simple e-book that might interest you all.
Check it out!

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95604

The Tobie Vanishes - a review of Haruki Murakami's The Elephant Vanishes

My partner, Rocky, got me started on reading Haruki Murakami.  I type this with some level of uncertainty, because to be quite frank, the book as been terribly good to read.  Not the type of books I am accustomed to, I admit, but then again, who am I to judge.  I'm barely an accomplished writer, not having been seriously noticed by any award-giving body.  Even the webcomics I am so proud of was practically ignored by the local scene.  I doubt my point-of-view when it comes to books accounts to anything.

Still, I find myself wanting to write it review right now, with my body still dripping from the shower I had just taken, to share how Murakami's book is affecting me.  I'm half inebriated from alcohol right now, so I am certain my words are probably more rambling than making actual sense.  But deep down I feel I have to write this down. I have to record these thoughts before they are lost forever.

There was this TED talk I watched some time ago about a woman talking about the pressures of coming up with the "next big thing" after writing something deemed successful.  About how acknowledging that one's creative work may be the product of allowing oneself to become the conduit for a muse or a daemon to release its inner creative workings.  I really admired that talk, but I found myself suddenly disheartened to learn she was the same writer who wrote that really inane book about first world problems.  Eat, Pray, Love I think it was.  I could be wrong.

I am not anyone accomplished after all.
Nor recognized.
Or respected.

Still, I want to write this right now and so even with the puddles from the shower forming at my feet, I am typing now at my laptop at practically 5 in the morning, hoping to set these words down to some temporal sense of permanency before I head to bed.

My beloved got me started on Haruki Murakami's The Elephant Vanishes, a book filled with short stories and snippets of not so ordinary life.  Each story presents itself in a different way, sometimes a tad confessional, at other times with a more direct attempt at narrating the events, and yet in all the stories I find myself reading I feel myself diving deeper into a sense of how profound each story is.  I don't attempt to use the word profound to sound like an artiste or anything special.  I simply mean to say, every single story I've read unlocks ideas and question in my head, making me ponder on who, what, whys and hows in a way that I actually find delightful.  Every single story makes no attempt to demonstrate the Hero's Journey, as Joseph Campell's (did I get his name right) Monomyth concept suggests.  Instead, each is a slice of (not so normal) every day life given a point of view that previously did not exist.

Murakami, to be blunt, is a genius.  His stories are compelling and through-provoking without pandering to the reader.  The mysteries he brings up are not question to be solved, rather devices that spark new insight or experiences for the reader to indulge in.  His narratives are quaint and direct, yet hide inner sublime meanings which I find literally intoxicating to indulge in.  Call me stupid, but I find myself limiting myself to a single short story per day I give myself to read his book, not wanting to have it end too soon.

The book is a fantastic read.  I find myself wanting so much to find a way to emulate his writing style, or at least emulate how devoted he is to sharing an experience that he seems to (at least for me) care nothing about hitting the expected norms of what a writer should do.  So many times in my life I would write something and others would question why I did not answer this or that question, or resolve this or that issue.  And yet, here is Murakami, with enough novels to make me weep in envy, doing the very thing I used to do, remain completely apologetic, and gain allocates for doing so.

I am in total envy for the craft and skill this man writes.

Every single story is a stab into my creative heart, reminding me that perhaps I need to find my own way of doing things.  Or perhaps, I should just turn a blind eye to every single act of criticism towards my work and just do what I want to do.  I used to proudly proclaim that my words, ultimately, are children of my creative soul not needing any outside affirmation or recognition.  But deep down, I know I am envious of my friends who have Palanca awards and National Book Awards to their names.  Carlo Vergara.  Arnold Arre.  And more.

Maybe someday I can refine my own works to reach an audience that will truly accept my work and find meaning in it.  Maybe someday I can tell others, "See.  This is me doing stuff I love.  And others see that."  But for now, all I can do is just write this review while half drunk and hope it makes sense.

The Elephant Vanishes is a fantastic read that I sorely recommend to anyone who has not yet dipped their souls into any of Haruki Murakami's works.  The book is definitely easy to read and even more satisfying to go through.   May I some day create something that accomplishes the same thing to my readers.

Until then, I guess you have my diliman comic to enjoy.
It ain't much.  It definitely ain't Murakami in any comparable level.
But at least it was something I really put my heart into doing.

Thanks for reading.
Thank you Rocky for letting me read this book.

005 of 365 Things I Want To Do

005 of 365 Things I Want To Do

START READING HARUKI MURAKAMI

I have always heard of wonderful things about this writer.  And after my exposure to this short story, I was absolutely in love with his words.  My partner Rocky has a beautiful collection of his books and I am someday going to have the opportunity to explore them and enjoy his stuff.  Here is hoping I am smart enough to really take it all in.  


But yeah, Haruki Murakami is a writer I am dying to really get into.    And thanks to my partner, it seems this year I will!

The Search for the 3 Penguins Continues

The search for a way to purchase our own copy of And Tango Makes Three continues.  In celebration of the freedom to read, Rocky and I continue to search for a way to get this book without having to sacrifice an arm and a leg.  Interestingly, Canada has its own Freedom to read event, however they hold it on a different date.  One of our attempts had us checking the Gateway branch of Fullybooked and to our horror, not only did they not have the book, but if we were to ask them to order it for us, it was to cost us $25 for the book.

Twenty-five freaking U.S. dollars.

A quick jump to Barnes & Nobles shows the exact same amount if I were to order it myself directly from them.  So what gives, Fullybooked?  I thought bookstores were supposed to help make books more accessible to people who love books?

Yesterday, Rocky had to go back to his parents' place for most of Sunday for some long needed quality time with the family.  Rather than turning into a lonely wreck (and yes I can be needy like that at times, I guiltily admit) I decided to make myself more productive by scouting around for any sign of either that book or a copy of Houses of the Blooded which our dear friend Adrian was able to dig out in a Booksale bin.  After another check to make sure my injured toe was better (and unlike what I did in Facebook, I'll spare you all the details of that here), I drove my car ABA to Gateway mall and began my book-hunting quest.

I started with the nearby Farmer's Market, where I fought the urge to distract myself from the book hunt and get Rocky some nice flowers to welcome him home with.  I decided that most of his day was already to be spent tangling with the family dog.  The last thing my asthmatic partner would need is to come home to a house contaminated with mushy intended pollen.  Walking past the blooms, I concluded the wet market did not have anyone setting up some tiny used books area and made my way to the next location on my path, Farmer's Plaza.  There, I located the branch of Bargain Booksale which our good friend Pao once brought us to and began looking through the shelves for any signs of the two.  Sadly, the only real interesting thing I saw was a series of tiny hard bound books on Faries, Dragons and Goblins, which I would have purchased had not this middle-aged mom snagged them from the shelves and in what I deemed to be long-concealed glee, began perusing each page while hosting a smile that almost literally filled her face.  I wondered how long she had been hoping to find those books again.  Bargain Booksale tends to have that effect at times.  I do hope she decided to finally buy them.

From Farmer's Plaza, I took the connecting bridgeway and crossed back to Gateway mall.  I stepped back into Fullybooked just to check if by any chance the book I wanted was actually there.  No such luck (which wasn't really a surprise.  Fullybooked seems to overstock Neil Gaiman and other hot moving books more than rare ones anyway.) and so I decided to take a dive into the four-storey branch of National Bookstore which was not too far away.  There, almost two hours were spent scanning almost fifteen different bargain shelves for any sign of interesting books after realizing the penguin book and roleplaying game books were unheard of in this branch.

But still, I didn't want to give up.   I walked out of Gateway, and crossed over to the Shopwise side where another branch of Bargain Booksale stood.  It was in this very branch that Adrian found the copy of Houses of the Blooded.  Alas, no dice.  The shop did however have over seven new brown boxes of books that had yet to be marked in their inventory and opened for the public to peruse.  Definitely good signs to go back and recheck that branch in due time.

Already that far from where I left my car, I decided to walk to Cubao X and check if by any chance the other stores there might have any curiosities worth bringing home.  I was also wondering if there was a chance to get the tradepaper back comic I won at the recent 24-Hour comic competition which had some sort of an awarding thing at Sputnik.  But (yeah, it was the pattern for that day) no stores had anything worth bringing home and Sputnik comics was definitely closed.   On the way back, I saw a tiangge with a sign that proclaimed "new stock."  The dusty place however had nothing worth purchasing save for a boxed set of a Murder Mystery Game which I might have purchased had it not been lacking in its contents.

So I decided to at least end the day with an attempt to get either iOmega DVDs for our data backing up, or a new PS3 game to surprise Rocky with.  I knew I would be stupid to give in to the urge to hunt for a new Transformer that Rocky wanted, given the financial saving up necessary to ensure we can visit Boracay this November.  Unlike some people, we did have to earn the money we spend on trips, you see.

To my disappointment, the fun zombie-attack-while-trapped-at-a-mall game Dead Rising 2 was only allowing multiplayer options online and had no 2-player offline mode.  While it was affordable in price for a new game, it didn't offer Rocky and me a chance to play together the way games like Dynasty Warriors or Little Big Planet did.

But I guess the day ended with a happy note.  After nearly a month of not having it in stock, CD-R King finally had replenished their stock of iOmega DVD-Rs and I quickly purchased a set of fifty for us to get back into hygienically reorganizing our data files.

So yes, the search for the book on two gay penguins and their kid continues.
Maybe other than that, I can try at least getting some people to consider reading other options that have been banned in the past.  Rocky was even teasing that we dive into the Twilight series since it was one of the books that was banned from a library.  The idea scares me.   It does.

But the idea of books being banned scares me more.

We are celebrating the Freedom to Read

Next week is Banned Books Week.

Even now, many books have been banned from libraries in the United States due to complains about what some close-minded people consider "questionable content."   My partner, Rocky, and I have plans of doing our share of celebrating Banned Books Week by either buying a banned book or writing a review about one next week.  I recently shared the plan with Kenneth Yu of Philippine Genre Stories and I am very excited with the article ideas we were able to come up with in our short chat online.

This event has been happening yearly for quite some time.
I feel bad to only know about it this year!

Expect some articles on this event to be online by next week.

Read more about this event here.
And even if it is a US centric event, I personally feel we should all do our little part in celebrating the freedom books should always have.  Me?  I'm hoping to find a copy of one of this year's banned books, a book called "And Tango Makes Three" which talks about the gay penguins that caught the media's eye not so many years back.  Horribly, such a book was forced out of libraries even if there was no formal complaint about it.

Poor penguins.
I'm gonna find a copy of you, and I'm gonna give you a home among my piggies.

So yes, I'm gonna write about the event to help give it more awareness and buy that book to show support to the people who made it.

What are you planning to do?